DIY Life

Real Simple has some great tips for making the most of your ceremony, including your vows to each other. They suggest that if you think you'll suffer from stage fright, or if you just need to have traditional words spoken during your ceremony, then you should probably go ahead and choose traditional vows appropriate to your beliefs.

But if you want to be unique, you can always write your own vows. Real Simple has a few recommendations for writing your own wedding vows, which I'll share with you after the break:

The other day, I found an interesting and easy decorative glass vase tutorial over at CasaSugar. I thought to myself, "That's pretty cool for around the house, but I bet it would also be perfect as a wedding centerpiece." In fact, it turns out that the project originated at DIY Bride.

This is really as simple as picking up some rub-on transfers you like, along with a clear glass vase that has a smooth surface. After making sure the vase is completely clean and dry, just cut around the transfers you like, then use the burnishing stick that comes in the package to carefully rub designs onto the vase (exactly as you would if you were rubbing them onto paper).

The transfers are sold in almost any store that carries scrapbooking or other craft supplies. Thousands of designs are available, but if you can't find any rub-ons that you like in your area, the DIY Bride post has a list of online resources.

This project is as versatile and stylish as your imagination (for example, the right transfers would make it great for Mother's Day), but this is not exactly a new tip: a few months ago, this concept also ran in the Winter, 2008 issue of Somerset Life magazine, where it was used to decorate glass bottles and jars. Please join me after the break to read more about the appealing ideas that were presented there.

Weddings are so fun, but for the bride and groom, getting prepared for their special day can be a hassle. It is quite a feat to pull off a wedding without a hitch.

Although it is exhilarating to pick out flowers, the hall, the chapel, and those you've chosen to be in your wedding party, it can get a little frustrating to agree on all aspects of the day.

You can take the hassle out of choosing your wedding invitations with an awesome instructable that teaches how to print and assemble multi-layered wedding invitations.

A shadow box is a shallow box, with a glass framed front. You can put photo collages and other memorabilia inside, then hang it on your wall as you would any other picture frame. You'll find shadowboxes in a variety of sizes and style at your local craft store.

One of our most beautiful wedding gifts was a shadow box, made by a friend of ours. She included our invitation and dried flowers in our wedding colors.

I hope to make one for my sister's wedding, but I'm going to hold off until after the big day. This way I can include some wedding day mementos, like the groom's boutonniere, one of the wedding favors and a couple of place cards.

This is one of those projects where you have free reign to exercise your own creativity, and personalize it as much as you want. You can create a clean, contemporary look by choosing to focus on the invitation or one photo, then add a few embellishments to compliment it.

You can also make something regal with rich color choices, and an abundance of items decorating the box. Include the bride's tiara just for fun. If you're having trouble getting started, check out these step-by-step instructions on creating your own shadow box.

Weddings can be very expensive, and everyone wants to cut pennies where they can. Why not start by making your own guest book? It can be a really simple project, and is an opportunity to create something special and unique that you'll appreciate looking at in the many years of wedded bliss to come!

Things you'll need:

• Blank book: You can get these at just about any craft store
• Xyron machine or glue stick
• Rubber stamps: There are many wedding themes available
• Stamp pads
• Poetry or Quotes you like, related to the theme of course, printed onto cardstock
• Photos
• Ruler
• Pens
• Decorative scissors

And, if you decide to antique the book, you will also need:

• Brown acrylic craft paint
• Sponge brush
• Water

You'll find the instructions after the break!

If being a die-hard DIY'er is a point of contention in your relationship, I wouldn't recommend turning up with these rings on your wedding day. If you're both into the fix-it lifestyle and want to celebrate it along with your love in a fun and quirky way, these nut and bolt wedding rings might be just the right fit.

The (somewhat phallic) rings fit together perfectly. I don't know how I'd feel about the guy getting the diamond piece, but that's the way they are intended. If nut and bolt rings aren't what you had in mind, there are some other cool ways that use your DIY'er personality and make your special day totally unique. Try making your own, with New York Wedding rings. A simple engraving can personalize rings and make them one of a kind. I'm sure there are loads of creative rings out there. I'd love to hear about some of them in the comments.

It has always seemed a shame to me that one of the best parts of the wedding day gets destroyed soon after the wedding ceremony. I have always enjoyed the beauty of wedding cakes and although I have always liked eating a piece, or two, or three, it still seems unfortunate to me that wedding cakes can't survive the celebration intact. Photographs just don't do justice to the memory of a wedding cake. They are after all, hand crafted works of art. So what is a person to do when they want a wedding cake that will withstand the rigors of time? I have found the answer. Although not edible, a LEGO wedding cake is durable enough to keep for a lifetime and to pass on to your heirs.

The LEGO wedding cake web page I have located for you does not have actual step by step instructions for making this beautiful creation but plenty of pictures and good descriptive text give you enough information to undertake the project yourself. The bottom two tiers are constructed slice by slice, allowing the happy wedding couple to give them to wedding guests as keepsakes.

If you're a fan of LEGO construction and you are contemplating tying the matrimonial knot, give some consideration to the LEGO wedding cake. It fits all the requirements of the traditional wedding cake except it's not edible and you really wouldn't want to schmoosh a piece of it into your new life partner's face.

Well, here we are -- the final edition of Wedstravaganza! It's been a long and bumpy ride for me going through all the final details of the gorgeous wedding that blurred past my wife and I this past August, but now the journey is just about complete for regular readers of this series. For those of you who would like to read all seven past editions of Wedstravaganza, I've included all the links below:

Wedstravaganza, Part 1
Wedstravaganza, Part 2
Wedstravaganza, Part 3
Wedstravaganza, Part 4
Wedstravaganza, Part 5
Wedstravaganza, Part 6
Wedstravaganza, Part 7

View the picture galleries, then be sure and read the rest of this feature after the break.

In last week's edition of Wedstravaganza, I started cinching up quite a few important and final details before the big day came -- August 3, 2007. Among the areas I covered included wine and champagne amount calculations (yes, there's a formula for this), wedding program finalization and printing, deejay preparation and reception presentation picture scanning.

This week will feature a decent amount of wrap-up before I complete the Wedstravaganza series with next week's Part 8, which I hope to have to you on the ever-spooky day of Halloween. I hope you've enjoyed the ride thus far, and I hope you can appreciate the level of planning and detail that goes into a wedding and reception. I'll cover the honeymoon in next week's finale, as I've held off on that until now.

Additionally, next week's finale will include a timeline, a cost breakdown and the ending of our special day to our chosen Honeymoon destination the very next morning after Marci and I were married. So, don't forget to check back! Until then, continue reading.

Couples can now make their own (or probably each others) wedding rings. It used to be that you'd choose between buying something ready-made from the store, or having a jeweler custom-make one for you. Now there is another option: design and craft your own.

This innovative concept by New York Wedding Ring is offered in both their New York and San Francisco studios. Each step, from design to final touches, will be under the guidance and supervision of a professional jeweler. You don't need any prior metal arts experience, or any real understanding of jewelry. Most designs can be completed in a one day workshop. More complicated plans may require an extra day. This would be a really fun workshop to take together.

They also offer engagement ring workshops. Just imagine how impressed she'll be when you propose with a ring that you crafted personally just for her.

In last week's edition of Wedstravaganza, I took you through a virtual cornucopia of meal selections, RSVP count updates, cake styles and selections, reception ballroom pictures, and photographer choices. We're now at week six of the eight-part series, so I'm going to attempt to wind up many events in this edition, and prepare you for what my final wedding day looked like and how everything came together.

After deciding to rent a projection system from our chosen wedding place, Marci and I set ourselves on a mission to locate a bunch of old photographs. You know, those yellow, 1970s-era (oops, I let me age slip there, heh) Polaroids and crusty images found spread amongst photo albums from family members on both sides.

Marci's mom and dad obliged with over six albums full of pictures from infant age through college, and my parents did the same. In fact, we had so many pictures at our choosing that it was hard to pick out 150 images or so that would work for the final reception presentation.

These flower-wrapped candelabras may be a bit tall for use as centerpieces on each table, but depending on your arrangements could work well. Either way, I think they would make extremely elegant centerpieces along the head table.

Floral designer Carolyn Shepard is the designer of this stylish arrangement. She chose deep pinks and reds wrapped around an antique style candelabra. You could follow her instructions and get the same stunning piece, or pull from your own color and style preferences, following her basic how-to, and create centerpieces that are uniquely you. Here's what you'll need to get started.

If you've been paying attention to my weekly Westravaganza feature, you probably know how involved planning and executing a wedding can be. The list of details and the involvement of so many people would make the heads of some CEOs spin.

But it can be done -- it's a huge labor of love that can't be denied. To that end, a sister blog of DIY Life -- AisleDash -- launches today focused on, you guessed it, weddings!

If you're planning to toast some nuptials soon, have done so decades ago, or are thinking about proposing to your significant other sometime soon, you'd be wise to check out all the great content over at AisleDash. It's already amassed a huge smorgasbord of content. Spend a little time reading over there and you'll see why the name is what it is -- you'll be dashing for the wedding aisle in reality. Or, you can relive your special day with the husband or wife while huddled around the laptop this coming weekend.

In last week's edition of Wedstravaganza, I covered creation and use of the wedding website as a planning aid for those too-close wedding dates, visiting Target and Dillards for the wedding registries, creating the wedding program, choosing a place for the rehearsal dinner, and selection of a minister to perform the actual ceremony. Those were some pretty large projects to tackle and get finalized, but ya gotta do 'em, right?

This week, I'll tackle some pretty important projects that allowed my wife and I to really pull a nice wedding together in only five weeks. We wanted to make our day very special even with a severe planning time crunch, so with all the planning paying off by week three of the five-week period, we decided to find a nice frame at a local Hobby Lobby store and have a 5x7 insert cut out so we could eventually place a black & white wedding photo there.

Until that time, we planted a family image in there and planned on having the glass removed so that wedding invitees could sign the backer board (with the five-pack of Sharpies we invested in) with well wishes. The photo above contains only a few, but by the wedding night, the entire frame was covered with signatures and wishes for our new family. It was, in a word, one of the neatest treasures from that special evening. In one fell swoop, we had this project done, so we put it aside until the wedding night came. Date: July 18th, 2007.

In last week's edition of Wedstravaganza, I covered tuxedo rentals for the guys, cake topper and table favor ordering, wedding colors, and flower picks. As we move into week four, I'll be talking about the wedding program I created, along with creating our wedding registries, wedding website (more on that later), and finding a place to hold the rehearsal dinner. Yes, the work continues, as we're only about halfway through the five-week journey it took to go from proposal to marriage. Strap in for the ride, 'cause here we go again.